Alexa Meade

This video introduces this inspiring artist perfectly, I think it's an innovative spin on the way artists are taught to paint, to embrace the medium and no longer make it look photorealistic, but this pushes these limits by using the body as a canvas. It makes for a really clever optical illusion. I think she could really push this further by doing more moving image work with it, I feel like there's a story to be told behind this portraits.

I think it not only pushes portraiture but also installation art. As you can see above these are really large scale, I think it'd be really cool to see them in person because you'd get a completely different sense of the scale and the art work than from the photographs. I think it's interesting that they are only a painting for a fleeting amount of time, it's not like the Mona Lisa where you can hang it in a gallery forever.

Whilst I was looking into her, I discovered she had done a seven minute TedTalk. I found it really interesting to gage more about her, I found it especially interesting to discover that she did politics at University, and painted shadows that set off her painting career. I think she was brave to follow her project and instinct and move back home and I'm really happy for her that thing's are working out really well, I think there's a lot more she could push her creative practice, and I think it will be really interesting to follow her in the future and see where it leads her.

She talks about Timmy (photographed above) and how he was willing to model in everyday environments, I really like the composition and lighting in this still and how the scene is set, I think it's something she clearly has a natural gift for, and this looks like it would make a really exciting scene in a film. I really hope one day she does make one.

Alexa currently lives in Los Angeles, CA and travels the world creating art installations. She works on commissioned portraits and sells limited edition prints of her artworks. On the side, Alexa is currently transforming her home into a "Fun House," collaborating with magicians, working on a line of toys, and teaching visually impaired adults at the Braille Institute how to make papier mache.

http://www.alexameade.com/c-v/ 

http://webneel.com/webneel/blog/25-incredible-and-realistic-pop-out-paintings-alexa-meade-inspiring-showcase

http://www.alexameade.com/